


The Murder Siblings and the Writer

by missauburnleaf



Series: Crimson [1]
Category: Crimson Peak (2015), Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Trauma, Drama & Romance, F/M, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Finale, Pregnancy, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-01 17:42:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20354386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missauburnleaf/pseuds/missauburnleaf
Summary: "Murder siblings arrested!" the headline said when the nurse handed Edith a copy of the Cumberland Gazette, together with her breakfast...





	1. Hospital

**Author's Note:**

> Due to the lack of modern AUs, I came up with my own version...

"_Murder siblings arrested!_" the headline said when the nurse handed Edith a copy of the _Cumberland Gazette,_ together with her breakfast_._

"Here you go, sweetie!", the stout, middle aged woman with the very short, red hair said, smiling friendly.

"Thank you," Edith answered automatically, placing her breakfast tray on the bedside table while focusing her attention on the article.

_"Thirty-five-year-old Lady Lucille Sharpe and thirty-three-year-old Sir Thomas Sharpe have been arrested yesterday as murder suspects in at least three cases of homicide and one case of infanticide," _the article revealed and Edith could feel her insides churn.

The memories were still too fresh, memories of falling in love with a tall, dark and handsome stranger, memories of being poisened, memories of finding out the truth.

They were monsters, both of them, despite Thomas's futile attempts of saving Edith from his sister. He might not have wanted to go through with killing her, yet he had stood by and done nothing while Lucille slowly killed his previous wives.

And then there was the baby...

Edith would never forget how her heart had clenched when she had seen the picture of Enola Sciotti with the child, of the little baby in its crib, eyes closed... Definitely a post-mortem picture, like in Victorian times.

But why?

Why taking this picture when Lucille had been the one to kill her own child?

Yes, her child, Thomas's and Lucille's child, not Enola's.

Edith still felt sick to her stomach when she thought about the fact that Thomas had touched, kissed and fucked his own sister, even while he had been married to _her_!

Taking a deep breath, she continued reading the article.

There was nothing said that she had not already known.

That the Sharpe-siblings had purposefully targeted rich, lonely and vulnerable women.

That Thomas had promised them love, had taken them to his home, the dilapidated Allerdale Hall, where he lived with his unmarried and single sister, that the women had wanted to help by giving the Sharpes money to run their clay mine and repair the house, that Lucille had gradually poisened the women, until they had transferred all of their money and property to their new husband... And then they would finish the poor girl off.

As they had planned to do to Edith.

And if Alan had not come to her rescue, so to speak, Thomas and Lucille might have been successful.

Oh, they deserved each other!

Yet, Edith was still glad that Thomas seemed to have had regrets, that he had genuine feelings for her, that he had wanted to save her, which was why he avoided killing Alan... Her childhood friend had told her everything.

And he had told the police.

But accoding to the article, Thomas took full resposibilty for everything that has happened. That eveything had been his idea and Lucille had only acted according to his wishes.

Liar!

He claimed that Lucille had been a victim of physical and sexual abuse since childhood at the hands of their parents, most of the time only to protect him, that she had been repeatedly raped and mistreated while being institutionalised after their parents' death,while he had gotten a good education at a famous boarding school.

And according to the article, Lucille would say nothing, just sitting in her chair, embracing herself and rocking back and forth while humming a lullaby, playing the part of the lunatic very well.

And although Edith should hate this woman with every fibre of her being, she took pity on her.

Apparently, Lucille didn't have a happy childhood, unlike Edith.

And, yes, this was no excuse for the horrible crimes she had committed,but, on the other hand, if you have never known love and compassion from the people who should take care of you, your view on the world might become _twisted_.

That was why Edith believed that Lucille had been the mastermind behind the Sharpe-siblings' crimes.

However, Thomas would take the blame.

Maybe he felt guilty for letting himself be protected by his sister for so long.

Maybe he felt guilty for falling in love with Edith and thus betraying his sister.

And then, when Edith finished reading the article, she stumbled across something that totally threw her off course: "_And chances are good that Lady Lucille Sharpe will get away with a lenient sentence. When being treated for her stab wound, which Lord Thomas Sharpe's current wife had inflicted upon her in self-defence, it was discovered that she was pregnant_."

Pregnant.

Lucille was pregnant.

With Thomas's child.

Edith was glad that she hadn't eaten her breakfast yet because otherwise she would definitely have thrown up.


	2. Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't say anything, Lucille, for once try to pretend to be as crazy as they thought you to be when we were kids,Thomas had hissed at her when they saw the emergency lights and heard the sirens as the police car and the ambulance drew near to Allerdale Hall, clutching her hand harder.  
Lucille, still dizzy and sick from bloodloss, had only nodded..."

_Don't say anything, Lucille, for once try to pretend to be as crazy as they thought you to be when we were kids_,Thomas had hissed at her when they saw the emergency lights and heard the sirens as the police car and the ambulance drew near to Allerdale Hall, clutching her hand harder.

Lucille, still dizzy and sick from bloodloss, had only nodded.

Of course, there was the child to think about.

She had only found out one day earlier and just told Thomas, when the little tart had walked in on them, her and Thomas, while they were making love.

Maybe she shouldn't have pushed the little trollop off the landing.

But just seeing her innocent, rosy face, the luminous, wavy golden hair made Lucille furious beyond believe.

And then Thomas had had nerve to defend her, to tell Lucille off for wanting to go through with their initial plan made her snap.

She wanted the little bitch to be dead!

And then, of course this sunny boy, Alan McMichael had made an unannounced visit.

Lucille had known from the minute that Thomas had started feeding him the lies about why Edith had fallen down the stairs, that McMichael saw through their web of lies.

And somehow, it had even been cute how eager he had been to pretend believing their lies, how eager he had been to get the damsel in distress out of the house and to safety...

"Miss Sharpe? Are you listening to me at all?" the police officer asked.

She seemed kind, understanding, looking at Lucille with her warm, brown eyes and Lucille focused her gaze on her.

"Yes," she said hoarsely.

"So, you understand that you are under arrest for murder because we suspect that you killed or assisted to kill three of your sisters-in-law and your child?"

The child.

Not the one safely cradled in her womb right now.

No, the officer referred to the baby who had been so sick that he would have died anyway, without her feeding him sleeping pills in his milk bottle to put him out of his misery.

She couldn't stand seeing their little boy in so much pain any longer!

"I didn't kill him... He was already dying," Lucille answered slowly.

"And why was that, Lucille? Did you poison him like your brother's wives?" the other police officer asked less kind than her collegue.  
Lucille didn't like her.

"No! I didn't..."

She interrupted herself before saying "poison my son" because that would be like some confession that she had actually poisoned Margaret, Pamela and Enola.

But Thomas had told her to say nothing because of the baby: the new life growing inside of her.

"Lucille, Lucille, I believe you... No loving and caring mother would harm her child", the first officer interrupted, the one with the dark hair and the warm, brown eyes.

"I want to see Thomas," Lucille whimpered and the second officer the young woman with the light blond hair and cold blue eyes snorted.

"You know that you can't," the first officer replied softly.

"You will never see him again - he will go to prison while you will be instituionalised," the blond officer added.

That was too much for Lucille.

With a scream, she swept her paper cup of lukewarm, watery tea from the desk to the floor.

"No! Everything I did, I did for him! I endured everything for him, I suffered for him... No! No! Thomas!"

It broke her heart to know that she would never again hold him in her arms, kiss him, make love to him... She slid out of her chair and crumbled to the floor, embracing herself.

"Hush, Lucille, we know it's hard, yet you and your brother have done some terrible things, you have killed innocent people, surely you must have known that this would not go unpunished," the brunette officer, remarked.

"We would have gotten away with it... It's _her_ fault!", Lucille screeched.

"Whose fault? Your sister-in-law's? The strong, young woman who stood up against you and your murderous brother? The pretty young woman your brother has fallen in love with?", the blond officer provoked her.

It was too much.

Yes, Lucille knew.

She had known the moment that Thomas had suggested they should target Edith Cushing instead of Eunice McMichael, although Eunice would have been the better choice, witless, boring, plain, thirty-something Eunice.

But no. Thomas had wanted to woo and marry bright, clever and charming Edith Cushing.

And if Lucille was honest with herself, she had been intrigued.

Edith had the same spark of passion and curiosity about her like Enola.

And to some degree, Lucille had liked Enola, especially when the other woman had helped her to deliver the child, had taken care of the gross afterbirth, had promised to help the baby to get better.

Of course she had lied to save her own life.

And after her son's death, Enola had no more use for Lucille, despite Thomas' pleas to let her live, to let her help him with his inventions.

And then there was Edith...

Lucille had already suspected that Thomas had slept with the little trollop before she had gotten the confirmation when Thomas' first reaction after her announcement that he would be a father again had been, "So, Edith is pregnant?"

It had been a slap to the face.

"Lucille? Lucille? Can you hear me? You are save here," an empathetic female voice commented, and Lucille could feel a big, warm hand on her back.


	3. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Thomas felt guilty..."

Thomas felt guilty.

He felt guilty because he had betrayed Lucille due to his love for Edith.

And he felt guilty because he had betrayed Edith due to his love for Lucille.

That was why he owed Lucille to take all the blame, especially now that she was with child.

His child.

And hopefully, this time it would live!

Thomas was convinced that Lucille could not bear to lose another child.

Neither could he.

Two miscarriages, a stillbirth and a dead baby were enough.

Lucille was only darkness, past and death.

Edith, however, was light, future and life.

Certainly, Thomas would have been delighted if Edith had been the one to carry his child.

Yet the poison Lucille had fed her regularly had apparently prevented that.

And now Lucille was pregnant.

Of course, Thomas had to protect his child and the mother of his child, therefore he had pleaded guilty...

He had to talk to Edith.

She had to understand his motivation.

And maybe she would agree to raise the child.

It would be safe with Edith, she would only give love and light and the child would never become as bitter and callous as Lucille or as pathetic and hypocritical as himself.

But he would see neither Edith nor Lucille again.

Why should Edith come and visit him?

He had betrayed her.

And Lucille was his partner in crime, so they would never allow an encounter between him and her.

Lucille.

The only one who had always been there for him; a dark, murderous and cruel woman.

But she was the love of his life.

She had taken care of him when they were younger by tending to all his little pains and aches and she had taken care of his other needs as they grew older.

He would never give up on her!

He couldn't.

Not after all that she had suffered, sustained and done for him.

And yet, he also loved Edith.

It had just happened that he had fallen in love with her.

And because he had fallen in love with her, Lucille hated the girl.

She had been indifferent to all of his other brides - well except for Enola who had taken care of the baby, his son, Benjamin, who had been born wrong and who had drawn his last breath at only three months old.

He had always cried due to the pain he was in.

Lucille had taken care of him at night and Enola at day, while Thomas was working on his inventions, they had aspirated his viscid mucus, given him his medication, fed, bathed and swaddled him.

Thomas had only once in a while held his son, mainly because Lucille took the baby to her own bed and Thomas slept there - or rather tried to sleep because the baby was crying and crying and crying...

Yet he had loved the little boy, like Lucille.

And when the authorities now claimed that the baby had died of an overdose of sleeping pills and not due to his genetic defect, then Thomas knew that Lucille did it out of love, love for the baby that was so sick that it would have died anayway before his first birthday, the baby that was in so much pain.

And he felt guilty because he would always remember the night before his son had died: He had been so tired - his newest invention didn't work properly and they had lost a prosperous investor - he had just wanted to sleep and Benjamin wouldn't shut up... He had yelled at Lucille that she should make the baby stop crying.

The very next night, she had informed him that Benjamin was dying.

The baby had lain between them, so peaceful, his laborous breaths became more and more shallow until his breathing had stopped altogether and he looked like one of those baby dolls Lucille had owned as a young girl and with which they used to play house.

However, Benjamin wasn't a doll, he was his son and Lucille's son and they had bathed him and dressed him and placed him in his crib before Thomas had taken one last picture of the little one...

Those were horrible memories, worse than anything else he and Lucille had endured, yet there were also good ones...

Thomas would never forget how Benjamin had focused his pale, blue-grey eyes on him, only a few minutes after his birth, still covered in blood and... stuff... after Enola had placed the squirming, wailing bundle in his arms because she had to take care of Lucille's afterbirth.

And then, later, when Benjamin had firmly grabbed his pointer and started to chew on it with his toothless gums...

Those were precious memories.

And he had hoped with all his heart to experience this with Edith., when Lucille had told him that he would be a father again.

But not Edith was pregnant, it was Lucille.

And Thomas would do everything to save his child and the mother of his child.

And he hoped Edith understood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently working on chapter 10... Concerning the Hannibal fandom, Bedelia DuMaurier und Hannibal Lecter will first appear in chapter nine.


	4. Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Edith was the only one alive who knew the Sharpes so well, so she thought she would be the right woman for the job to raise their child, teach him or her love and empathy..."

"Edith, have you gone mad? You can't visit them! Have you forgotten what she did to you... and to me?" Alan asked when Edith visited him in the hospital and told him that about her plan to talk to Lucille.

"I know what I'm doing, Alan. Since the bloody poison is no longer in my system, I can think properly... And I have to know how long she has been pregnant. If the baby was conceived while I was with Thomas or before..." Edith explained and pushed her long golden hair behind her ears.

She got her walking cast today so that she was able to move around with the help of crutches and thus discharged from hospital; Alan would have to stay a little bit longer due to his stab wounds.

"Why are you tormenting yourself, Edith? You should forget everything that happened! We will go back to America and live our lives, while those two monsters are going to rot in prison!" Alan replied.

"No, it's not that simple. I lived with them, Alan. Sometimes they confided in me, especially Lucille at the end. I have to know if I was merely a second Enola - or more! And what about the baby? I've heard that she is supposed to go to an insitution for the criminally insane... What will happen to her child then?" Edith wanted to know, slightly upset.

Alan sighed.

"It will be placed in an orphanage, put in foster care or, if the parents consent, put up for adoption," he explained, running a hand through his blond hair.

"Lucille will never give up her child for adoption but... but maybe I can take care of it? I mean, it's also Thomas' baby and... and it deserves a decent life and a happy childhood," she remarked and could feel her cheeks turning pink.

"Ach, Edith, you still love him, don't you," Alan whispered.

"Yes," she breathed because you couldn't stop your feelings at once, even if your husband was an incestuous serial killer.

"Edith, I'm sure the authoraties will not place Thomas's and Lucille's child in your care - even though you are Thomas's wife and thus the child's stepmother. Those two have tried to kill you! It could be too traumatic for you... and you know that Thomas and Lucille have already lost pregnancies and babies... Who knows if she will be able to carry it to term... Or if the baby is healthy enough to..."

Alan shook his head and didn't elaborate.

"...to survive," Edith added hoarsely.

Lucille had told her everything about her two miscarriages at the age of twenty-one and twenty-seven, about her stillbirth at thirty, and then about the birth of her terminally ill son about two years ago...

Alan took her hand.

"Edith, leave everything behind. You have survived and stopped them, that's enough," he commented.

"I can't just leave it all behind. I feel that the story is not yet finished, the last chapter has not been written yet," she explained.

Alan briefly squeezed her hand and smiled indulgently.

"You and your stories! But you are right. This story will only be completed when those two will come before the court and we will give our testimonies so that they will receive their just punishment," he said.

"To never see each other again would be the worst punishment for them," Eith mumbled and thought about her last night in the Sharpe's home... Lucille's smug smile after Edith had caught Lucille and Thomas having sex, the hatred in Lucille's eyes when she had pushed Edith off the landing, her madness and anger when she later tried to bully Edith into signing the papers so that Thomas would get all her money.

A part of Edith was terribly sad that everything had come to this... So many lives destroyed, so much blood and violence and death!

She should hate the Sharpes for everything they had done to her, despise them for their crimes, and yet she couldn't.

And even though Edith should have as little sympathy as the Sharpes had for all the innocent women they had murdered, she couldn't because she knew the cruelty Thomas and especially Lucille had to endure as children.

Surely, such abuse would leave marks - metaphorically and literally. And to think that Thomas and Lucille had been abused by their own parents one could not consider the cruelty to be an inherited disposition.

Maybe Thomas and Lucille would not have become murderers if they had grown up in a loving and healthy environment... Another reason why it was so important that Thomas and Lucille's child would get the right parents.

And since Edith was the only one alive who knew the Sharpes so well, so she thought she would be the right woman for the job to raise their child, teach him or her love and empathy so that it wouldn't become a murderer like its biological parents.

"No," Edith declared with determination, "I have to talk to Lucille. And Thomas. I have to complete the story, to write the last chapter!"

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I'm late to these fandoms, but what do you think?


End file.
